Berserker

Possessing an unusual dichotomy, Berserkers combine raw fury with stealthy battle tactics, all with one goal in mind: to instill fear and doubt into their opponents before violently spilling their blood. Born killers, it is sometimes said that the Berserker is more animal than person. They are known to wear animal skins and even eat the heart of savage beasts in the belief that they will be granted some measure of its ferocity.

Berserkers prefer to start most battles in hiding, but certainly not out of fear or cowardice. Rather they use stealth to sneak along the flanks of the enemy and then, when the time is right, charge in with a bestial roar or unnerving howl. Once the blood begins to flow they wholly give themselves over to battle rage, unrelenting until all of their foes lie dead at their feet.

Wild and unruly, Berserkers can at times be a liability and run the risk of losing themselves to violence. In order to bring some semblance of order to their lives they tend to pledge their loyalty to the banner of those they deem worthy. This makes Berserkers highly prized by warlords and battle chiefs, who rely on their particular set of skills to sow chaos into the ranks of their enemies, or terrorize villages into compliance. When a Berserker makes their presence known then death, violence, and terror follow in their wake.

Class Overview

Typical Roles: Support/Utility, Stealth, Melee Damage
Damage Types: Physical
Class Mechanic: Fury and Stealth

Default Stats: During Character Creation you may choose to use the default stat line shown below, before racial modifiers. This can be instead of rolling for stats, or if after rolling ten sets of stats you don’t like the results.

During Character Creation you may choose to use the Default Stat Line, before racial modifiers, instead of rolling for stats, or if after rolling ten sets of stats you don’t like the results

Proficiencies

Natural Armor Proficiency: Cloth, Leather
Trainable Armor Proficiency: None
Natural Weapon Proficiency: Knives, Swords, Bludgeons, Axes
Trainable Weapon Proficiency: Handweapons, Whips, Firearms

See Equipment section for details. When using weapons or armor that your class is not proficient with, see Combat Penalties. There is no level or title prerequisite to train in a new proficiency, however you must receive the appropriate Training.

Class Skills

Class Passive Skill: Caged Fury
Class Secondary Skill: (choose one) Dual Wield, Intimidator, or Warmonger

Primary Skills

Fury

Berserkers follow the standard methods of gaining fury in combat by both inflicting and taking damage.

Stealth

Berserkers use stealth as an effective tool to not only draw close to their unsuspecting foes but also wage psychological warfare and sabotage their defenses. Berserkers follow the standard rules for Stealth classes and Learning New Stealth Skills.

Stealth Costs for Berserkers are as follows:

• All offensive or aggressive Stealth actions reduce Stealth by 2 prior to taking a Stealth Test
• All offensive or aggressive Stealth instants reduce Stealth by 1 prior to taking a Stealth Test
• Increase the Stealth cost by 1 if the offensive or aggressive instant or action is NOT a Stealth skill (i.e. a regular attack action)
• All regular movement reduces Stealth by 1 per tabletop inch moved prior to taking a Stealth Test

Berserkers have the following restrictions for Stealth Disciplines:

• Primary Discipline: Sabotage
• Available Disciplines: Thievery, Dirty Fighting, Survival, Assassination, 
• Forbidden Disciplines: Suppression, Subterfuge

Upon character creation, Berserker’s automatically gain the following Stealth skills (prior to applying level ups):

• Sever (Rank I)
• Bleed (Rank I)

To learn new stealth skills require training unless they are upgrades (i.e. Rank1 Stealth Shot -> Rank2 Stealth Shot). Stealth training for a Berserker is typically accomplished by paying an Expertise trainer or learning from a more experienced Stealth class.

Level Ups

Berserkers use the following chart for leveling up:

HP Dice (Regular): Small Race (1d8), Medium Race (1d10), Large Race (1d12)